5 reasons why I journal

★ I’m moving to a new site! It’s been two fun years since I activated themhayonnaiseonline, and I thank you for giving it a wonderful life. I thought it’s too late for moving to a new home, but I’m here to take risks! I mean, why not? You’ll still visit me there, right? Let’s connect and read new stories at THEMHAYONNAISE.COM!

I’m on bed rest for a week and that gave a problem I never dreamed of having – being bored. Yea, I got that ever since, bec I really don’t like doing nothing except when I’m eating or sleeping and have nothing else to worry about. But now, my OB advised to take complete bed rest for at least a week to avoid early contractions and abdominal pain. So yes, instead of risking my baby, I said yes to one week of boredom and maybe just get through one day at a time.

When you are advised to have “complete bed rest” by your OB, it really should be COMPLETE bed rest. Not just staying at home or staying on bed, it means you have to lie down, and literally do nothing while lying down well maybe except when you need to eat, of course.

Anyway, I’ll share the whole story some other time, cos today i wanted to show you something. It’s not very important though, but I read a similar one on Pinterest and whatevs, I just want to share my point as well.

What is journaling?

Some say journaling is stupid and journaling is for the weak. I don’t know how they thought about that, but yea, I hear people say those kinds of “comments” and yea, I think they’re b*llsh*t, too.

I’ve been journaling since I was in grade school and collected journal notebooks since then. Collected, for me, meaning I consumed and used them but never kept. I don’t know how confident I was just leaving my personal journal open for the eyes of many.

Come on, use your common sense and answer that question yourself. What is journaling? Well, journaling is just writing anything you think or feel like writing – thoughts, experiences, observations, ideas, sketches, etc. Just like what I’m doing when I blog (a reason why I call my blog my online journal). Journals are usually handwritten, but since we are already at the age of digitization, there are journalists who now use digital journals such as OneNote, Moleskine App, an many more. You can actually use your phone built-in note app or you can just blog them all online.

Depends if you’re patronizing Filipino products for your journaling (oh nailusot ko yon). But generally no. Why would people care if you’re just writing for yourself? But I can say it can help yourself more than it can help others. Yes you may share your thoughts and tips, but there is no better student but yourself.

It’s just really nice when you grab your old journal and read your old stories and just laugh about whatever is written or whatever is drawn. Kind of a self-help.

Why I journal and what kinds of self-help it offers.

Helps harness your inner creativity. My journals are not just letters to myself or to others, but also random photos, drawings, designs, and collages. I love writing and I love colors as well. So my journal actually reflects my interests, too. An open book of my life, it is.

Even if you have no one to talk to, well, you can survive. There are problems or personal issues we can’t talk to other people about. And that’s when journals are more than helpful. I am a very emotional person and I don’t want myself to get drowned and keeping my problems to myself. Writing them on my journal and venting about bad (or even good) stuff really helps.

Increases emotional intelligence. As an outlet for processing your emotions, journals can also help you become more aware of yourself. Based on personal experience, whenever I write things down, it’s only then and there when I realize what I should be doing to eliminate that specific problem or how could I keep doing the good things. I used to be a fan of revenge, but when I read about my old self and realized how toxic it is to keep your grip on negativity, I thought “I don’t want to feel that way again”. So I came up to a list of lessons learned I knew I will be going to share to other people specially my kid(s).

Strengthens self-discipline. Setting time aside to write is an act of discipline. Not everyone can manage their time really well (I was honestly one of those people lmao). Make it a habit and you’ll notice you’re not just managing your journal writing, but almost everything you do in a day.

Reduces stress. This is just another bullet, but the summary of all the benefits you can get from journaling. Writing about the things that stress you helps release the intensity of these feelings. Idk, but sometimes, just expressing it helps, whether there is one person listening or just no one. Kailangan mo lang talaga ilabas lahat minsan.

So yep, I hope you are somehow got inspired of what I just shared. I know some of you already are doing this, but most are not. Try to open yourself up sometimes and let it all go. On my next posts, magdadrama ako and sana nandyan padin kayo. Ciao!

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Published by themhayonnaise

May Vargas (@themhayonnaise) is an auditor by profession, a writer by passion, and a single mom in between. Currently based in Manila, she spends her time (well, aside from her corporate job and being a mom) blogging about food, travel, and almost anything. She tends to overshare her experiences and dramas on themhayonnaise.com.
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11 thoughts on “5 reasons why I journal”

Well, I also do journals. I used DayOne app and Notebooks for free flowing ideas. I recently switched to bullet journaling for task management, although not a total switch coz I still have my scribbled journals. So far I haven’t heard any bad comments about it from my friends and relatives I guess they were used to me writing stuff on a notebook. Just keep it up.. Happy journaling 🙂

I used DayOne app, too! And Evernote. And Moleskine. Maybe digital journaling is just not for me. Oooorr i can try them again some other time. I am thinking of trying it again for documenting stories of me and my baby. 💕 thanks anyway for sharing! 😘

I know right. I actually use day one for quick logs so that I can summarize it at the end of the day. Not all the time I bring my note book I use it for a solemn quiet time. I’m actually working on a blog post that makes day one app more useful and easy to use. I might share it with you some other time.